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Ezekiel 44:
1-2
April 10, 2010 EASTER: About two days before our most recent Tree of Life Journey which took us to Syria, Jordan, Israel and the occupied territory of both the West Bank and the Golan Heights, through a friend, I learned about a website – www.yourolivebranch.org -- that could offer us the opportunity to do a blog on our journey. Sort of knowing what a “blog” was – and I have to say, it’s not the prettiest word in the English language – it did indeed seem like a good way to chronicle our journey, but not having the foggiest idea of how to do such a thing, to show you how smart I am, I immediately contacted one of the younger members of our group. Thankfully, my young friend, Eliza Nguyen, took it on with great enthusiasm, such that throughout our travels, people here at home were able to follow along with our experiences, and Eliza, I thought, did a masterful job of capturing many of the remarkable adventures that we shared and the courageous voices of conscience with whom we met, and so, we were able to share these voices with those of you back home. On this day in which we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, I was thinking about the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- as being something like a blog on the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Now, I think it’s readily obvious, and I think Eliza would agree with me, that the person who writes a blog or a gospel has a fair amount of power in as much as they provide the lens by which something or someone is seen, and even though they may try to be objective, inevitably, what they write is influenced by their own perspective, their own interpretation. Furthermore, most biblical scholars would agree that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were not eyewitness reports, but each of them was more like a retrospective, some written years, some even decades after the life of Jesus, and each one of them may have been comprised of other documents as well. And then, of course, we now know that after the bible was canonized, other documents, even other gospels were found out in the desert, in earthen jars, including fragments of what has been called the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene and the Gospel According to Thomas. While some might look at this as a problem, making it difficult to ascertain who the “real Jesus” was, I, for one, rejoice in this diversity of perspectives. For me, each one of them shows Jesus from a different angle, a different perspective, allowing us to see Jesus in all or at least much of his wonderful complexity. A diamond, after all, is more beautiful for being multifaceted. But also, this seems to invite each one of us to offer our own blog or our own lens on this man who is so central to our Christian faith. This morning, our choir has sung a beautiful rendition of “Fairest Lord Jesus”, and for each one of us Jesus might be “fair” for different reasons, and if Easter is a day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we should be clear on what it is that we mean when we speak of Jesus, “fairest Lord Jesus.” What is the essence of Jesus for you? What was it about his life and his spirit that you would want to see resurrected, and as you flip your fingers through the 4 gospels and maybe some of those outside the bible as well, which stories about Jesus are absolutely essential for you? This morning, being the blogger – if you will – I’d like to share with you a few snap shots of Jesus that make Easter such a joyous day for me. These are passages from scripture – Mathew, Mark, Luke and John – without which my faith would feel bereft. I would be the first to admit that my portrait of Jesus would not be the same as someone else, and so I offer you this perspective with the hope that you might write your own perspective on why this day is so important to you. In the interest of time, I realize I have to be selective, and while there are many stories and snapshots of Jesus that would lead me to sing “Fairest Lord Jesus” with great conviction, these are but a few of those that I would select, and again, be thinking about what your own selections might be. First of all, I love how Jesus began his ministry saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” After quoting from the prophet Isaiah who spoke of a time when captives would be released and when those who were blind would be able to see, when all would live in a state of peace and tranquility, a day when the dawn of new light would come even to darkest places on earth, I love how Jesus said, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Do you see how beautiful those two words are -- “at hand”? There are those we know, maybe even ourselves, who live in a perpetual state of nostalgia, thinking that the golden age of civilization was yesterday, in some previous age, maybe when Thomas Jefferson was president, or when “Lassie” was still on television, a glorified time that is no longer “at hand.” And then, if there are these, there are even more of those who think of the Kingdom of Heaven as something in the far distant, unattainable utopian future, something over the rainbow or through the looking glass, a fantasy land that exists only in the realm of dreams and fairy tales, but I love the enthusiasm and I love the idealism and I love the urgency with which Jesus spoke, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As a young man full of idealism and hope, I have no doubt that without the crucifixion, Jesus would have lived to be an old man still full of idealism and hope, still saying at 90 or 100 those same beautiful words, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”; it is within reach; that golden age of enlightenment when all are able to see what life is all about, that age when no one is hungry and no one is imprisoned by selfishness or greed, that gentle age when our warring madness has finally been overcome, that age that can only be described as being “heavenly”, that age is not in the distant past or the even more distant future; it is here and it is now if we would only realize our God-given potential, if we would only see ourselves as we are seen by God. When I sing “Fairest Lord Jesus”, that’s the Jesus, that’s the Messiah I have in mind. I also think of how Jesus revolutionized the meaning of the word, “family.” At a time when people lived in closely knit families, clans and tribes, at a time when everyone knew where and to whom they belonged, when the world was easily divided: us and them, Jews and Samaritans and Roman Citizens, clean and unclean, rich and poor, righteous and unrighteous, I love how Jesus was forever crossing over lines that others thought of as being taboo. He spoke of “Good Samaritans” which some would have thought was an oxymoron, and he was forever breaking bread with those that others thought were unclean, and one day when he was asked about his family, I love how Jesus looked out on a group of ordinary people, some of whom were strangers, and said, this is my mother and these are my brothers. For me, this is one of the reasons I can sing “Fairest Lord Jesus” with no hesitation. Fairest of all are those who transcend their familial and tribal and nationalistic and sectarian identities. For me, as I look at all the tribalism, all the family and tribal and nationalistic lines that play so rough with the human family, the tender bonds of our human community, as I ponder those who have defiled the name of Jesus by calling themselves a “Christian Militia” – and there’s an oxymoron if there ever was one -- as I think of the unholy wars being fought in the name of religion, as I think of the xenophobia that mars the face of God’s Creation, I love how Jesus said to a group of strangers, “you are my family”, as if to say, “I love my biological family, I love my Mother, Mary and I love my father, Joseph, and I love the community of Nazareth, but for me, blood is not thicker than water, and I refuse to be enemies with someone just because they come from a different place or belong to a different tribe.” Others may have other reasons for calling Jesus “the messiah”, but that’s messianic enough for me. On this our last Tree of Life Journey to the Holy Land, up on the Mt. of Beatitudes, during an anointing service, I shared with our group a few reflections on the life and teachings of Jesus and what it was that he meant when he spoke of the “Kingdom of God.” I shared how I really don’t believe that it was Jesus’ intent to start a whole new religion. Indeed, I think Jesus would be horrified by the sectarian things that have been done in his name, for his message was really just the opposite. I shared with our group how for me the word “kingdom” is not quite right, for the word “kingdom” presumes minions and castles and catapults and positions of authority and inferiority, and so, being the Hoosier that I am, I sometime inadvertently drop my consonants, and with the word “kingdom” I do so quite intentionally, for I think it would be more accurate to say, not the “kingdom of God, but rather the kin-dom of God.” From Jesus’ perspective, everyone was kinfolk, everyone was family, and that’s messianic enough for me. The kingdom of God is at hand. The Kin-dom of God is at hand, and we better believe it, before it’s too late. In my blog on Jesus, I would also want to include the amazing thing that Jesus said, even as he was dying on the cross. He looked out on this gruesome scene, and being blessed with 20/20 spiritual vision, he could see right into the heart of his disciples – not only Judas who had betrayed him and sold him out for 30 pieces of silver, but also the rest of the disciples who by their silence, by their passivity, by their fear of being associated with him, they were complicit with evil, and also the Roman Soldiers who had been dehumanized by their power and also Pontius Pilate for whom no amount of Purell could wash away his sense of responsibility and the guilt that went with it. To all these, Jesus offered perhaps the most amazing words of theology ever spoken. He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” For those brought up with aberrant theologies, pictures of God as a brutal child-abusing father, pictures of a persnickety God that tolerates no disobedience, pictures of a God whose anger could be appeased by barbequed chickens, here was a very, very different image of God, not a new image of God, but a very old image of God, but one that somehow had gotten lost under layer upon layer of theology: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus understood the amazing power that grace and forgiveness have on the human spirit, how it releases beatific qualities and energies never thought possible, for he knew that grace and forgiveness are to the human spirit what light and carbon dioxide are for our trees. They take those gnarled and twisted by a long “winter of discontent”; they take branches bereft of anything at all, and turn them into the most beautiful shade of green. Many of us live in an existential state of being either unforgiven or unforgiving, and I’m not sure which is worse, but they both do terrible things to the human spirit, but when Jesus said, “father forgive them”, this released a very different theology into the atmosphere; it brought light where there was terrible darkness; it brought photosynthesis to the human soul, and so how could I not speak of fairest Lord Jesus, for these words, “grace” and “forgiveness” are messianic enough for me. Now that we have Jesus way, way up on a pedestal. Now that have taken Jesus off the cross, and put him up where he belongs, high and lifted up, allow me to add one more vignette to my blog. On the night in which Jesus had supper with his disciples, at a time when he could see the handwriting on the wall, at a time when he could tell that the ecclesiastical and political authorities were bearing down on him, Jesus shared with his disciples the bad news that he wouldn’t be with them very much longer. You don’t need to be too much a student of human psychology to understand how uneasy and insecure and inadequate this would make them feel. “What on earth are we going to do when our fearless leader is no longer with us!” Their fear and their anxiety are almost palpable, and you can picture them wringing their hands in despair, looking around the room to see if there might be someone, anyone who could pick up where Jesus left off. But I love how Jesus said to them, “think of all the wonderful things we have done together. Think of the hope and the love, the grace and the forgiveness that we have brought to so many, but I tell you, “even greater things than these will you do.” That also is the essential Jesus, for me. He was forever doing what he could to empower the rest of us, and where others were wanting to make him the Messiah, he was forever trying to show how the Messiah is a spirit present within each one of us. But, please allow me to say this in a round about fashion. Over in the ancient city of Jerusalem, there are a number gates that one might pass through to get into that city – Jaffa Gate and New Gate and Damascus Gate, but over on the Eastern Wall of the Old City, there is a gate that is sometimes called “The Golden Gate” and sometimes “The Messiah’s Gate” but right now that Gate is impenetrable, as it is completely walled up, and there are those – both Christians and non-Christians – who believe that when the Messiah comes or comes again – depending upon your perspective – the Messiah will pass through that gate, and until then that gate, the Messiah’s gate will be nothing but a wall. How I wish that enough of us could lean on that wall to show that it’s really nothing more than being like the wardrobe through which Lucy was able to pass to enter the magical land of Narnia or the looking glass through which Alice had to crawl to begin all of her adventures. For us, the walled-up Messiah’s Gate, if we leaned on it, we would see that while it may look like a wall, it is more like a very thin membrane through which we all need to pass in order to assume our true identities as children of God, new-born babes of the Holy Spirit. How tragic it is those who waste their lives waiting and waiting for the messiah to come. How sad those who live on the wrong side of that wall in a perpetual state of passivity, in a perpetual state of advent, waiting and waiting for something or someone else. Blessed are those who have heard those beautiful words of Jesus, “even greater works than these will you do.” Blessed are those who have felt empowered by those words, those who believe that they have the same spirit, the same messianic spirit coursing through their veins as well. Blessed are those who feel compelled to allow themselves to be a conduit by which more of God’s grace and forgiveness and more of God’s hope and love can be brought into the world. Blessed are those who have learned the wisdom of the Hopi Indians, the elders who have said, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” Blessed are those who have come to believe that there are no walls, not even death itself, that can stand between us and the love of God. But I needn’t say anymore than this, for it’s already been said and said much better and more concisely in my favorite words from my favorite Easter Hymn, written by Charles Wesley: Soar we now where Christ has
led,
“Made like him, like him we rise.” I love those words, especially “made like him, like him we rise”. I love the symmetry of those words, and if I were to write my own blog or gospel, I would conclude with those words. “Made like him; like him we rise.” If Jesus is “high and lifted up”, that’s where we should be as well, and it’s not only where we should be; it’s also where we can be. And that’s Messianic enough for me! Amen.
David W. Good Old Lyme, Connecticut
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